The CBSA had linked him to the SSP through his association with Pakistani Deobandi cleric and former jihadist fighter Ilyas Ghuman. Canadian officials said Ansari had been involved with the terror group since before coming to Canada and had been soliciting funds and promoting its goals online.

The narrow streets where Asmal grew up also some of the most segregated in Britain. The vast majority, 98.7%, of the close-knit local population are of south Asian descent and there are only 14 white people, according to the 2011 national census. Most of the local mosques follow the ultra-conservative Deobandi tradition, including the Zakaria mosque, which is a short walk from Asmal’s home.

IS’ takfiri ideology has not only appealed to disaffected members of traditionally sectarian groups such as Al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban, but it has also inspired civilians to pledge allegiance to the group, despite their Deobandi origins. Evidence of the support that IS has received from the aforementioned sectarian groups is made clear in a letter that was written by a leader from the Afghan Taliban, Alhaj Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor, to IS’ spiritual leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Simultaneously, their counterparts from the Deobandi sect are also fielding candidates under the banner of ‘Rahe Haq’ or as part of the ‘Awam Dost Group’, if elections are indeed held on a non-party basis.

The Sunday Express has learned that Mohammad Dawood, the father of Khadija, Sugra and Zohra Dawood, three sisters who are thought to have travelled to Syria to join Islamic State, was an imam at the Nusrat-e-Islami Mosque in Bradford.

He preached a conservative form of Sunni Islam called Deobandi.

Ishtiaq Ahmed, spokesman for Bradford’s Council for Mosques, confirmed: “He was the imam there a few years ago but hasn’t been in recently as far as I’m aware,”

LUBP

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